Finding candidates who support education

Teachers begged voters during the #RedForEd walkout to stop electing people who give education funding lip service.

So, let’s say you want to do that. That you want to make education the primary issue that defines your legislative votes. How do you know whom to choose?

Most legislative candidates have touted their support for education this election season, with many Republican incumbents pointing to the Proposition 301 sales-tax extension or the teacher raise they approved last session as proof of their commitment. They say they have restored hundreds of millions of dollars that were cut from schools since the recession.

You might think that’s enough, and if so, great! Problem solved.

But what if you don’t?

Some say a better measure of candidates’ commitment is whether they signed a pledge promising to work with #RedForEd leaders on more sustainable education funding.

The pledge includes support for #RedForEd’s five goals:

❚ Immediately restore education funding to 2008 levels.

❚ Pass a 20 percent salary increase for teachers to create competitive pay with neighboring states.

❚ Offer competitive pay for all education support professionals.

❚ Create a permanent teacher salary structure, which includes annual raises.

❚ Enact no new tax cuts until per student funding reaches the national average.

If you’re good with those goals, the pledge probably has some value for you. More than 70 legislative candidates have signed it, though not one is a Republican.

Why? Good question. They might philosophically disagree with the goals or not want to align with Invest in Ed, the group that circulated the pledge.

Does that mean candidates who didn’t sign it are against education? Not necessarily.

As I have previously explained, though I support increased funding and a new revenue source to sustain it, I wouldn’t sign the pledge for two reasons: 1) It’s not realistic to think any Legislature can “immediately” restore a billion dollars in funding, and 2) It shouldn’t be the Legislature’s job to dictate teachers’ salaries. That should be left to districts.

OK, then. Say, like me, you weren’t keen on the walkout or the pledge. Is there a better way to know who would fund schools they way they need to be funded?

Not really, because the answers vary depending on how much funding you want to provide and how you want to pay for it. And few candidates have been that specific on their websites or in questionnaires (we did ask how they’d pay for any education funding increases, at least).

The brutally honest answer is that if you want a change of direction on education funding, it comes down to how comfortable you are with voting for Democrats.

Why? Because Republicans largely voted for the usual suspects in the primary. If you’re looking for fresh GOP faces to represent you on education, by and large, you’re out of luck.

So, while most races in the general election are contested — Democrats, to their credit, are running even in traditionally red districts this year — the choice in many of them comes down to a current or former Republican lawmaker or a previously unelected Democrat.

That might be an easy choice for some voters, particularly if a promised blue wave materializes (so far, however, turnout is far from breaking records, and early voters have been more heavily Republican).

But I had a hard time. Because while I agreed with the Democratic candidates on education funding, I disagreed with them on many other issues on which they’ll be asked to vote.

I’m not a straight-ticket voter. So, in the end, I split the baby: Voting for the Democrat and the Republican who most closely reflected my views. It was unsatisfying. And the toughest choice I marked on my ballot.